George McGovern and the Religious Left

Last updated on: July 17, 2017 at 5:16 pm By David Swartz

I’m pleased to post this interview with Mark Lempke, who just published the terrific book My Brother’s Keeper: George McGovern and Progressive Christianity with the University of Massachusetts Press. Mark teaches history in Singapore for the University of Buffalo. Part II, in which Mark explains why he’d want McGovern on his pub trivia team, will be published in two weeks. –David *** David Swartz: Who was George McGovern? Mark Lempke: In the most immediate sense, George McGovern was a Democratic... Read more

What Makes Protestants “Protestant”?

Last updated on: July 20, 2017 at 11:01 am By Chris Gehrz

What makes Protestants "Protestant"? A new history suggests that it's not about Reformation doctrines or even biblical authority, but an ongoing "love affair with God." Read more

“The Riddle of the Religious Other”

Last updated on: July 8, 2017 at 12:16 pm By Thomas Albert Howard

Often I have been asked about putting together a grant proposal or a book prospectus. So, I thought I would post here a current proposal (which is very much in progress!) that I plan to send to the Guggenheim Foundation and eventually to a publisher. I hope this might help anyone out there crafting there own proposal/prospectus. And I heartily welcome constructive criticism on the material below. Book Prospectus: The Riddle of the Religious Other: On the Past, Present, and... Read more

The World Set Free

Last updated on: July 14, 2017 at 6:48 am By Philip Jenkins

Sometimes you see phrases and passages that are so provocative that they cry out to be placed in exams with “Discuss” after them. Here is a great example from H. G. Wells, whom we often regard as a patron saint of secular materialism. I am just reading his stunning novel from 1913, The World Set Free, a phenomenally important and, arguably, prophetic text. The book concerns the development of nuclear power and what the author calls “atomic bombs,” which are... Read more

Recalibrating the “Evangelical Paradigm”

Last updated on: July 14, 2017 at 12:33 pm By Chris Gehrz

A growing body of evidence points to a pitched battle between evangelical and churchly Protestants that we need to incorporate into our stories. Read more

You’re Interested in the History of Sports and Christianity

Last updated on: November 18, 2024 at 2:56 pm By Chris Gehrz

An interview with historian Paul Putz, whose research and new blog (Sportianity) explores the intersections of Christianity and sports. Read more

The Value of Failure in Graduate School

Last updated on: July 11, 2017 at 4:23 pm By Beth Allison Barr

This is from my Anxious Bench archives. I currently am teaching in London and gathering more material for future posts! You can look forward to a guest blogger (I think you will love his forthcoming book) on July 26, and I will return to my posts about medieval Christianity vs. modern Christianity in August. In the meantime, this post resonated with many last summer, so I thought it could help some more graduate students this summer. My husband suggested once... Read more

Christian Responses to Lindbergh: “The New Christ”

Last updated on: July 10, 2017 at 8:16 pm By Chris Gehrz

How did Christians respond to the advent of Charles Lindbergh, called "the New Christ" by one excited onlooker? Chris surveys sermons from May-June 1927. Read more

Counting Baptists and Naming Baptists

Last updated on: July 14, 2017 at 11:38 am By Philip Jenkins

Unlike virtually all Christian churches and denominations, Baptists are not witnessing a fundamental shift of numbers to the Global South. Read more

Theosophy and the Rise of the Modern

Last updated on: July 8, 2017 at 7:36 pm By Philip Jenkins

Last time, I described the enormous attraction of the Theosophical movement in the early twentieth century, when it played such a central role in Western culture. But what were the core themes that so appealed to highly educated thinkers and the avant-garde – in short, to Modernism and modernity? What made the Theosophical package so much more attractive than traditional Western religions – or in many cases, than secular radicalism and progressivism? What follows, in no particular order, is my... Read more